Not So Bad After All
by Elanor Gamgee
Summary: Hermione's world has turned upside-down. Could it be that someone else has finally read "Hogwarts, A History"?


Author's Note:None of this belongs to me, except the situation, which was inspired by an actual exchange with my husband when he finally read a certain series of books that I love (guess which series!).All characters belong to the inimitable J.K. Rowling.This story takes place somewhere in fifth year, at a time when the threat from Lord Voldemort is minimal enough to warrant worrying about more frivolous things. :)

And a big thank you to Moey, my excellent beta-reader!

Not So Bad After All

A Fanfiction by Elanor Gamgee

Hermione was sitting at the Gryffindor table, _The Founders of Hogwarts propped open in front of her against the milk jug, when Harry finally turned up for breakfast._

"Good morning," said Hermione cheerily as Harry sat down across from her."Where's Ron?"

Harry rolled his eyes and began piling bacon on his plate."Overslept again.He's coming.That's why I was running late though--took me forever to get him to wake up."

"Was he up late again?" said Hermione in surprise."He must really be taking his keeper position seriously, to spend so much time working on the strategies."

"Yeah," said Harry through a mouthful of toast."I didn't hear him come in last night.I don't know how late he was up."

"It's good to see him really get involved in something though," mused Hermione.

Harry shrugged."Yeah, I guess."

Ron entered the Great Hall, running his fingers through his sleep-tousled hair.He spotted Harry and Hermione, and came over to sit with them.

"Good morning," said Hermione, amused as she watched Ron's face split into an enormous yawn.

"M-ooooor-ning," said Ron through the end of his yawn.Hermione noticed that Ron was developing dark circles under his eyes._He really needs to get more sleep, she thought._

"Were you up late again working out Quidditch plays?" asked Hermione, trying to keep the you-should-take-better-care-of-yourself edge out of her voice.

"What?" said Ron, looking confused."Er--yeah, so what?"

"Nothing," said Hermione, pursing her lips and turning back to her book.She didn't feel like getting into an argument over nothing this morning.

Ron fell to silently devouring his breakfast.Harry glanced over at him, then at Hermione, looking uneasy.Hermione knew that he had grown increasingly uncomfortable with his two friends' arguments, and often tried to distract them before the sniping could start.

"What are you reading now, Hermione?" he asked, more, Hermione thought, to change the subject than because he was at all interested.

"It's called _The Founders of Hogwarts," she said, holding up the book so that they could see the cover."It's quite interesting," she paused here to wait for Ron's usual derisive snort, but it didn't come.She supposed he was too fascinated with his breakfast to bother."But I don't think it's quite as well-researched as __Hogwarts, A History.That's still the best book on the topic, I think."_

Hermione was shocked to see Ron nodding seriously next to her.Expecting a sarcastic comment, she turned to him, eyes narrowed."What?"she said defensively.

Ron, strangely, didn't even seem to realize what he had been doing.He looked at her in surprise, swallowed a mouthful of food, and said, "What's with you?"

Hermione eyed him suspiciously, not sure what was going on.She returned to her book, still inclined to watch him rather warily.

Harry was looking back and forth between them, a confused expression on his face.They were all silent for a moment.

"Ugh, Divination first thing this morning," Harry said, clearly trying to change the subject again."The thought of climbing all those stairs...I wish I could just Apparate up to the classroom."

Hermione raised her head and opened her mouth to utter her usual response to such a suggestion, but, unbelievably, _Ron beat her to it._

"Harry," he said distractedly, buttering a slice of toast."You can't Apparate in or out of Hogwarts, everyone knows that."

Hermione and Harry both stared at Ron, open-mouthed.At first, Hermione was sure that Ron was making fun of her as usual; however, when he didn't even look up to see her reaction, she began to wonder if he had been taken over by some book-reading spirit.

_Book-reading?A suspicion began to form in Hermione's mind, but it was so ridiculous, she could barely even contemplate it._

Ron, meanwhile, seemed to have realized that they were staring at him.He looked up defiantly."Well, it's true," he said, taking a bite of toast.

"Ron," said Hermione slowly, "have you been reading _Hogwarts, A History?"_

"No," he said, looking straight at her."I don't need to--you've read it enough times for all of us, remember?"

Hermione relaxed a little as the world as she knew it fell back into place."I thought not.I mean, I knew you wouldn't really appreciate the whole--"

Ron raised an eyebrow at her."Oh, I wouldn't, would I?All right then, if you're so smart, how did the fifth Headmaster die?"

Hermione stared at him, completely unnerved."What?"

"You heard me.The fifth Headmaster died violently.How did he die?"

Hermione was completely distracted.One part of her was thinking _How does he know to ask that? How does he know the fifth Headmaster died violently? and the other part was racking her brains thinking __How did __the fifth Headmaster die?She knew that she should know the answer to this question, and the thought of being upstaged by __Ron on a question from __Hogwarts, A History was too much to bear.But her complete disorientation at Ron's sudden knowledge was making it difficult to think._

"It was...right after the 23rd Goblin rebellion..." said Hermione, thinking out loud.

Ron smirked at her."Yes, I know that.But how did he die?Don't avoid the question."

"Er...hang on a minute..."Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out her copy of _Hogwarts, A History."I know it's in the fourth chapter," she said, flipping through pages intently.Across the table, Harry was staring at Ron incredulously, his breakfast apparently forgotten._

"...and it was right after the Goblin rebellion..." said Hermione absently.

"You've already said that," Ron reminded her.

Hermione gave him a look. Then she continued to flip through the pages.Now that the question had been asked, she couldn't rest until she knew the answer.But it was completely distracting to have Ron looking at her with that knowing grin on his face.

"Got it!" said Hermione triumphantly, locating the reference."The fifth Headmaster, Bartholomew Higgbottom, was killed by a Nundu while on holiday in East Africa.There!"

Ron smirked again."I know."

Hermione looked up at him, her suspicion back now that her need to answer the question was past."How did you _know that?How did you even know to __ask that?"_

"I guessed," said Ron, popping a piece of bacon into his mouth.

The world seemed to have turned upside down again.This wasn't at all how things were supposed to be, and she rather felt like Alice gone through the Looking-Glass.Had she talked _that much about __Hogwarts, A History, that Ron knew such details without reading it?Or were the things in that book common knowledge?None of these thoughts seemed to offer a satisfactory explanation, however._

Hermione cocked her head and looked at Ron."You've read this, haven't you?" she said, her voice sounding more accusatory than she intended.

"No!" said Ron with a maddening grin."No, I told you, I just guessed."

Hermione leaned away from him warily.She had no idea what was going on."Er...well, all right, if you say so."Hermione put her book back into her bag and stood up distractedly."I'm going to Study of Ancient Runes now.I'll see you two later..."

Still feeling off-kilter, Hermione made her way across the Great Hall to the doors.As she left the table, she heard Harry saying, "What was that all about?" and Ron answering, in the same strange voice he had used with her, "Nothing."

Once in class, Hermione tried to shake off the lingering odd feeling from breakfast.Fortunately, the runes they were studying were especially complicated, so it forced her to focus on something besides Ron's newfound knowledge.In fact, by lunchtime, she was sure the whole experience had merely been some strange hallucination, as Ron was acting completely normal.For once, she was actually happy to hear him talking with Harry about Quidditch; it was reassuring, somehow.

The afternoon, too, passed without incident, though Potions class was horrible as usual.At dinner, however, something else happened to make Hermione question her own sanity.

They had just started loading their plates with food when Colin Creevey showed up at Harry's elbow, his little brother Dennis in tow.

"Harry!" said Colin, breathless as always."Look what our dad just sent us!"Colin held up a pair of Muggle walkie-talkies.

"They're great, Colin," said Harry resignedly.

"They won't work here, you know, Colin," said Ron off-handedly."There's too much magic in the air--they'll go haywire if you try to use them."

Hermione dropped her fork with a clunk."That's _enough!" she said in exasperation."You've read it!"_

Ron looked up at her."I have not," he said mulishly.

Hermione narrowed her eyes."Fine," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest."Then you probably don't know which House Quidditch player was falsely accused of Quaffle-pocking during the 1910 final game for the House Quidditch Cup either."She had purposely picked something obscure, something that could only be found in one of the later footnotes in the book; she wanted to test her theory that he had read the whole thing.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" said Ron, but his eyes darted toward Professor Sinistra, who was sitting at the staff table.

"You know!" said Hermione, staring at him.

"I told you, I don't know what you're talking about," said Ron, turning slightly pink and looking away.

"Yes, you do!You looked at Professor Sinistra! You knew who I was talking about!"

"No, I didn't," said Ron.

Hermione eyed him again, more sure than ever that she was right."OK," she said, a rather cruel thought forming in her mind."Then how about this one:What kind of creatures were used to guard the castle during the Goblin Rebellion of 1456?"She was sure the thought of giant spiders would get a reaction out of him.

Ron went very pale and didn't answer.

"A-ha!You _have read it!"said Hermione far too loudly, pounding a fist on the table.Gryffindors up and down the table were now looking at her as if they thought her insane._

"No, I haven't!" Ron practically shouted.

Hermione stared at him."Why won't you tell me?"

Ron looked at her quickly."Because there's nothing to tell."With that, he stood up and stalked out of the Great Hall.

Hermione looked over at Harry, who looked like he wasn't sure what had just happened.Colin and Dennis seemed to have crept away while she and Ron had been arguing.

"_What was that all about?" said Hermione out loud.Harry just shook his head and went back to eating his dinner._

Hermione finished her own dinner in silence.She was certain she was right, and she was also certain that Ron didn't want her to know she was right.But she would be _happy to hear that Ron had read her favorite book, didn't he realize that?Why wasn't he telling her the truth?Why was he being so pig-headed?And why did it even matter to her?_

Hermione went to the library after dinner, and stayed late.She didn't feel like facing Ron in the common room; she wasn't sure what she would say.

When she did return to the common room, she saw Harry and Ron sitting in the corner, playing chess.She sat down cautiously at their table.

"Having a good game?" she asked lightly.

"Yeah, Ron's beating me, as usual," said Harry with a grin.

"But with every loss, you learn, Harry," said Ron in an uncharacteristically wise tone, not looking up from the board.

Hermione watched his red head bent in concentration for a moment.He seemed to feel as awkward as she did.

Abruptly, Hermione stood up."Well, I'm going up to bed.Goodnight."

The boys wished her goodnight (Ron still not looking up), and Hermione went up to her dormitory.She still felt as though she had been through a slight earthquake today; the world seemed to have changed under her feet. As she changed into her nightgown and got into bed, she thought about Ron.She felt as though she had been presented with a whole new side of him today, and she wasn't quite sure how to react to it. But why had he acted so strangely with her?She pondered these thoughts as she drifted into sleep.

Hermione never knew what it was that made her sit straight up in the middle of the night.It was pitch-black in the dormitory, and when Hermione pushed back the curtains of her four-poster bed and looked at her bedside clock, she found that it was three o'clock in the morning._Why am I awake? was her first, incoherent thought._

Then she heard something--a soft, unintelligible murmuring.At first she thought that perhaps one of her roommates was talking in her sleep, but it sounded more distant than that.She wondered if this sound had been what had awakened her, but it was so soft that she doubted it.

Hermione slipped out of her bed and found her dressing gown in the dark.Wrapping it around her, she left the dormitory and listened for the sound again.It seemed to be coming from the common room.

Wondering vaguely if Ron was up late again working on Quidditch plays, Hermione crept down the stairs.She stopped in the doorway, shocked at what she heard.

A wheezy voice carried across the common room._"...and when Gryffindor had finally succeeded in removing Slytherin from the school, there was much rejoicing.It was determined that Slytherin House would remain part of the school, as it had been since the founding.With Slytherin gone, the remaining Founders were finally able to turn to more personal matters..."_

Hermione peeked around the corner of the doorframe, and saw Ron sitting in one of the squashy armchairs by the dying fire, his eyes closed.A battered library copy of _Hogwarts, A History was open on the table next to him, and his wand was suspended over it, moving back and forth across the page._

"You've been _listening to it!" Hermione said, stepping into the room._

Ron's eyes snapped open, and he reached over and grabbed his wand, stopping the wheezy recitation in mid-sentence.

"You've been listening to it," Hermione repeated, walking over to stand in front of him with her hands on her hips."Why wouldn't you tell me?"

Ron looked at her defiantly, crossing his arms over his chest."Because I knew you'd act so weird about it."

"Weird?" said Hermione incredulously."You finally read my favorite book, and you don't think I'd be happy about it?"

Ron looked at her uncertainly for a moment.Then he uncrossed his arms and twirled his wand with a grin."Well, I wasn't lying earlier.You asked me if I'd read it, and I hadn't.Technically, I've only _listened to it."_

Hermione found herself grinning back at him."What did you use?The _Aura Libris spell?"_

Ron nodded."Yeah.I only started listening to it because I couldn't sleep one night," he said sheepishly."You'd left your copy down here and I reckoned it would put me right out..."Hermione frowned, but Ron went on, "Only it didn't.Parts of it can be almost interesting, you know?And then of course _you carry your copy with you everywhere, so I had to go check one out of the library.Embarrassing, that was."_

Hermione knew he was only griping for the sake of griping.She sat down in the chair across from him, smiling into the fire.No matter what he said, he must have liked the book if he had been staying up late to listen to it.He was just too stubborn to admit that he liked something that _she had suggested._

Something occurred to her."I thought you'd finished it though," she said suddenly."You knew the bit about Professor Sinistra, and that's near the end."

"I have," said Ron off-handedly.

"But the part you were listening to just now is near the beginning," said Hermione, looking at him in astonishment.

Ron blushed."Well, that's one of my favorite parts," he said quietly."I was just listening to it again."

Hermione stared at him for a moment, then began to smile."That's one of my favorite parts too," she said._The world must __be shifting, she thought.__We agree on something._

Ron looked at her uncertainly, than started to grin too.

"But I thought you said it was only 'almost interesting'," said Hermione teasingly.

Ron's grin grew wider."Yeah, well, it's not so bad after all, I guess."He reached over and tapped the page with his wand, muttering, "_Aura Libris".He let go of his wand, and it remained suspended over the page, beginning its wheezy recitation where it had left off earlier._

_"...the lives of the remaining three Founders would be forever linked, and their friendship was renowned throughout the wizarding world..."_

Hermione looked over at Ron, who had leaned back and closed his eyes again. He seemed to feel her watching him, and opened his eyes.He gave her a smile and a tiny wink.Hermione smiled back, then settled into her cozy armchair and let the words wash over her.She still felt as though the world had shifted on her today, but she was also sure that it had landed exactly where it was supposed to be.

_ _


End file.
